My apologies for the delay on this for the week.
While it typicalls runs on Monday, you get it Thursday this week.
Each week, we’ll highlight the 200-yard passers, 100-yard rushers, 100-yard receivers, defensive standouts and kicking standouts. We’ll also provide 10 takeaways from the week that was.
First and 10 (10 takeaways from Friday night)
— Not sure a game will top what happened in Park Hills on Sept. 18. Beechwood and CovCath played to a true heavyweight battle, trading blow for blow. As the game wore on and people were talking on the sidelines, it felt like everyone in the stadium knew whoever had the ball last was going to be the winner. Beechwood was on the right side of that prediction, scoring last and leaving CovCath with barely any time to answer. All in all, it was a clean football game. Only two punts and four penalties combined. Zero turnovers and the two combined to go 19-for-26 on third and fourth down conversions.
— Hopefully last week was the last of weather delays/postponements/cancellations. Lightning disrupted a lot of games and the policy is weird as a couple of outcomes showed. Even if a game was a few minutes in or even less than a half or a half played, the outcome was deemed final, KHSAA’s policy stating a game cannot be ruled a “no contest” if the game is unable to be finished. Due to travel and officiating limitations, making games up either over the weekend or into the beginning of the week was not an option for some. It affected quite a few teams in NKY. Bellevue’s game with Iroqouis in Louisville never got started and was canceled. Cooper played a handful of minutes before they could never get back going with DuPont Manual and having to call it a 6-0 loss. Bourbon County led Scott 47-7 in the third quarter before never being able to finish. Highlands led Ryle 28-0 at half before being called. Dixie Heights was able to finish on Saturday at Henry Clay, finishing off a 28-19 victory for their first of the season. Conner and Simon Kenton had a two-hour delay before finishing.
— Bishop Brossart stopped a late two-point conversion to hand Nicholas County its first loss of the season. The Mustangs went down to Carlisle and came away with an impressive victory, stopping the state’s leading rusher Jayden Wilkins on the conversion attempt. Looking ahead at 3-2, they have DeSales and then two weeks to prepare for undefeated Holy Cross on Oct. 9. Ludlow can still have their say, but that game very well could determine the Class 1A, District 4 champion.
— This week’s game ball has to go to Dixie Heights’ Levi Gilliland. He rushed for 270 yards and three touchdowns, caught three passes for 15 yards and added six tackles and an interception defensively. It helped the Colonels get their first win of the season as they took down Henry Clay 28-19. Momentum for Dixie as they open up district play with Scott on Friday in a Class 5A, 5th District that is wide open.
— We’re halfway there! The majority of teams have played five games, marking the halfway point of the season. Now comes what many coaches call the second season…district play!
— Courtesy of Bellevue statistician Mike Swauger, the Tigers will meet Ludlow on Friday for the 112th meeting between the two. Bellevue leads the all-time series, 68-38-5. The Tigers snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Panthers with a 12-7 victory last season.
— Thanks to Dave Hartman, he released NKY stat leaders via the Sugartit Times Picayune. Those leading NKY currently: CovCath’s Dylan Courtney with 1,169 passing yards, Boone County’s Malik Johnson with 837 rushing yards, Bishop Brossart’s Brady Boruske with 532 receiving yards, Campbell County’s Alex Riedinger with six sacks and Boruske with four interceptions.
— Dayton head coach Jesse Herbst was named the Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach of the Week after the Greendevils win over Western Hills. Herbst and Dayton are off to a 5-0 start. The award was celebrated with Bengals Ring of Honor member James Brooks as he came to the school and spoke to the team.
— Thursday night football! Lloyd Memorial is the first NKY team to play on a Thursday. They do so this week as they host Pendleton County. The Wildcats have won three straight, but I expect that to come to a crashing halt against the Juggernauts. Lloyd looks to extend a 12-game winning streak in the regular season. Like DJ Khaled said, “All they do is win, win, win no matter what.” The only potential roadblock I see for the Juggs in an attempt for a 10-0 regular season is on Oct. 2 at Bourbon County in an important district matchup.
— Another heavier bye week as four teams are off: Dayton, Boone County, Campbell County and Newport Central Catholic all get a break this week.
200-yard passers
Dylan Courtney, Covington Catholic — 14/23, 254 yds, 3 TD
Xander Guy, Campbell County — 15/36, 246 yds, 3 TD
Emmett Queen, Beechwood — 20/24, 200 yds, 2 TD
100-yard rushers
Levi Gilliland, Dixie Heights — 25 rushes, 270 yds, 3 TD
Malik Johnson, Boone County — 24 rushes, 218 yds, TD
DaMarco Jackson, Newport — 16 rushes, 163 yds, 4 TD
Nathan Pabst, Beechwood — 25 rushes, 159 yds, 3 TD
Jayden Watson, Ludlow — 15 rushes, 159 yds, TD
Lincoln Tomlinson, Lloyd Memorial — 21 rushes, 141 yds, 2 TD
Malachi Kennedy, Dayton — 13 rushes, 125 yds, TD
Kiyan Miller, Covington Catholic — 9 rushes, 112 yds, 2 TD
Colten Barger, Lloyd Memorial — 16 rushes, 104 yds
Andrew Lynn, Walton-Verona — 17 rushes, 101 yds, TD
100-yard receivers
Tyler Fryman, Beechwood — 13 receptions, 129 yds
Cade Anthrop, Campbell County — 3 receptions, 119 yds, 3 TD
Defensive standouts
Quinten Tischner, Bishop Brossart — 20 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
William Salveson, Ludlow — 18 tackles, .5 sack, 3 tackles for loss
Alex Riedinger, Campbell County — 16 tackles
Austin Grant Ashcraft, Ludlow — 13 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Malachi Kennedy, Dayton — 12 tackles, tackle for loss
George Mintch, Boone County — 11 tackles, tackle for loss
Phenix Hundemer, Newport Central Catholic — 11 tackles, tackle for loss
Tommy Busby, Bishop Brossart — 11 tackles
Samuel Ishmael, Scott — 11 tackles
Steven Hardin, Ludlow — 10 tackles, tackle for loss, fumble recovery
Jimi Cox, Highlands — 9 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 tackles for loss
Evan Link, Covington Catholic — 9 tackles
William Stevie, Newport Central Catholic — 9 tackles
Ellis Penrose, Boone County — 8 tackles, tackle for loss
Alexander Yutze, Walton-Verona — 8 tackles, tackle for loss
Tripp Wilson, Bishop Brossart — 8 tackles
Cash Myers, Covington Catholic — 8 tackles
Sam Miller, Covington Catholic — 8 tackles
Andrew Smith, Ryle — 8 tackles
Nathan Cottengim, Scott — 8 tackles
Colton Turner, Scott — 8 tackles
Griffin Eaton, Campbell County — 7 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss
Machi Garcia, Ludlow — 7 tackles, .5 sack, tackle for loss, interception
Tyler Crafton, Ludlow — 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Jacob Cook, Ludlow — 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
Liam Kolks, Boone County — 6 tackles, interception
Levi Gilliland, Dixie Heights — 6 tackles, interception
DaMarco Jackson, Newport — 5 tackles, interception return for TD
Benjamin Contreras-Wilson, Boone County — 5 tackles, 3 tackles for loss
Ben London, Dixie Heights — 5 tackles, sack, 2 tackles for loss, forced fumble
Sawyer McClure, Walton-Verona — 5 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss
Jacob Yutze, Walton-Verona — 5 tackles, sack, 2 tackles for loss
Kevin Vazquez-Wilson, Dayton — 5 tackles, interception
Brad Roaden, Dixie Heights — 5 tackles, interception
Jaylen Stone, Ludlow — 4 tackles, 2 interceptions, forced fumble, fumble recovery, punt return for TD
Noah Honaker, Campbell County — 4 tackles, sack, fumble recovery
Marjae Peterson, Lloyd Memorial — 4 tackles, tackle for loss, interception return for TD
Lamont Okunga, Newport — 4 tackles, fumble recovery
Jeremiah Yutze, Walton-Verona — 4 tackles, sack, tackle for loss, safety
Charlie Swendiman, Dixie Heights — 3 tackles, tackle for loss, fumble recovery
Gabe Williams, Highlands — 3 tackles for loss
Dustin Hamilton, Walton-Verona — 3 tackles, interception
Isaiah Jones, Lloyd Memorial — 2 tackles, interception
Jamari Johnson, Lloyd Memorial — 2 tackles, interception
Kolt Edwards, Walton-Verona — 2 tackles, sack, interception
Landon Ketron, Bishop Brossart — interception
Michael Newborn, Simon Kenton — interception
Gontey Waller, Newport — fumble recovery
Kyle King, Simon Kenton — forced fumble
Shawn Kata, Simon Kenton — fumble recovery
Tashawn Temple, Newport — kickoff return for TD
Kicking standouts
Nuno Gomes, Lloyd Memorial — 5/5 PAT, 1/1 FG
Jack Mercer, Beechwood — 6/6 PAT
Kai Anderson, Highlands — 4/4 PAT
Missing stats from: Conner
